Är det krut i RUT?

Sammanfattning: In 2007, the Swedish government implemented a tax reform on consumer services, which is known as RUT-avdraget. The aim of the reform was to reduce the size of the informal market and allow households to get more hours accessible for further work on the market. Research has mainly been conducted regarding the reform’s socioeconomic effects on areas such as integration and gender equality. However, previous work has been less successful in analyzing the expenditure and tax revenues that is generated by the reform. In an attempt to provide more clarity to the matter, the purpose of this thesis is to determine whether RUT-avdraget for the operational year of 2015 is budget neutral. By studying the financial aspects, the efficiency of the reform in terms of expenditure costs and tax revenues can be elucidated. To achieve this, data has been collected, processed and analyzed from the statistical bureau SCB and the tax authority Skatteverket. Along with the empirical results, theories regarding optimal taxation, tax wedges- and incidences have been used to provide a theoretical framework that can explain the effect of the reform on consumer and producer behavior. This information has been obtained by primarily examining governmental reports, scientific journals and literature. The result of our study shows that the generated tax revenue from the reform is inadequate and not sufficient to self-finance it.